Xu Yinian stared at Shen Ruoshuang, her thoughts sluggish as if she were painstakingly trying to process the question. For a moment, she even forgot to cry, simply tilting her head to look at the woman before her.
Her shimmering eyes were rimmed with red, and crystalline droplets still clung to her long, thick lashes.
It was impossible to ignore such a beautiful, tear-stained face. Shen Ruoshuang’s throat tightened instinctively.
Like anyone else who had a few too many, Xu Yinian didn’t think there was anything wrong with her. After her brain took several slow, winding turns, she finally managed to speak in a soft, muddled voice.
“N-No… I only drank… a little bit.”
As she spoke, her face showed no obvious signs of intoxication. She looked remarkably serious, even as her tear-heavy lashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly.
She looked like a little temptress.
Lost in thought, Shen Ruoshuang suddenly felt the fingers curled around hers loosen. A second later, a faint, tentative sensation brushed against her palm.
Her gaze darkened as she looked down.
Xu Yinian didn’t quite understand what was happening to her; she only knew she craved the sensations blooming across every inch of her skin.
Touching fingers and palms only provided a fleeting relief.
Shen Ruoshuang’s body temperature was cooler than Qin Jiashu’s. Just holding her hand brought a soothing chill to Xu Yinian’s searing palms.
She hungered for more. She wanted Shen Ruoshuang to use that icy touch to caress her, just as Qin Jiashu had.
The girl used the tip of her index finger to trace slow circles in Shen Ruoshuang’s palm.
She seemed to be trying to demonstrate what “a little bit” meant, yet at the same time… she seemed to be intentionally provoking or seeking satisfaction.
She looked pure and innocent, yet every tiny movement was a beckoning lure, drawing one deeper into the abyss.
Now, Shen Ruoshuang was certain.
Xu Yinian wasn’t just tipsy; she was completely wasted.
Shen Ruoshuang had never imagined that this girl—usually so guarded, introverted, and timid—would be like this when drunk.
She had gone from a stubborn girl who suppressed her feelings to a little crybaby who wept at the slightest grievance. She had gone from a girl who avoided all contact like she was facing a great enemy to someone who now hooked her fingers into Shen Ruoshuang’s hand, acting spoiled and refusing to let go.
How was anyone supposed to resist this?
Shen Ruoshuang was already obsessed with everything regarding Xu Yinian, let alone at a moment like this.
Though the alcohol had likely been given to her by Qin Jiashu during a confession, it was clear that Qin Jiashu hadn’t realized what an opportunity she’d created. Instead, she had thoughtfully delivered this “gift” right to Shen Ruoshuang’s door.
A lingering obsession began to eat away at Shen Ruoshuang’s rationality, but she didn’t resort to the kind of overbearing pressure that would make Xu Yinian cry in fear.
Against the current Xu Yinian, there were far too many schemes and traps that could make the girl walk into her net willingly.
The darkness in Shen Ruoshuang’s eyes laid her black-bellied nature bare. Her gaze toward Xu Yinian was filled with unbridled depth and scrutiny, yet it also held the tender affection of a predator looking at a prize catch.
And yet, her fingers withdrew from Xu Yinian’s palm one by one, leaving without a hint of lingering attachment. Her voice remained as cool and disciplined as ever.
“I’m sorry. You’re drunk. I won’t take advantage of you.”
At a time like this, she not only maintained her restraint but even remembered to lay the groundwork for tomorrow—just in case Xu Yinian remembered today’s events after sobering up.
In her current state, how could Xu Yinian possibly see through the disguise of this refined hypocrite?
The only thought in her mind was that the touch which satisfied her was disappearing.
Seeing Shen Ruoshuang turn away without waiting for an answer—the image of a cold, heartless silhouette—Xu Yinian endured the rising sense of grievance and stumbled after her.
How… how can someone be so heartless?
Her steps were floaty and unsteady, and her head was spinning.
Shen Ruoshuang actually sat down at her own desk as if nothing were happening.
Xu Yinian stopped in front of her. Even though Xu Yinian was the one standing, her aura didn’t feel superior in the slightest.
She was worlds apart from the woman sitting in the chair, who had effortlessly taken control of the situation without doing anything at all.
Xu Yinian reached out her arms as if to embrace Shen Ruoshuang, but in the end, she only dared to grip the back of the chair helplessly.
She looked down at Shen Ruoshuang, her eyes welling up with shimmering tears once again.
Driven by an intense craving, her muddled mind—which usually found it hard to process anything—suddenly filled with lines from a radio drama she had practiced and memorized countless times.
With a reflexive sense of shame, her voice took on a sobbing quality as she put a line from a top-tier seductive sub into practice.
“I… I… want it.”
The moment Shen Ruoshuang heard the girl stop behind her, she knew Xu Yinian was coming to beg.
But she never expected such bold, provocative words.
Shen Ruoshuang’s breathing grew heavy. Her peach blossom eyes lifted, a flash of color crossing them that overwhelmed her icy restraint.
She didn’t know Xu Yinian had learned these “bad” things from her voice acting work.
Was it something she said unintentionally, or had someone taught her?
The cold gaze of the Unreachable Beauty peeled away layer by layer, revealing the true face of the desire coiled underneath.
The atmosphere between them became searingly hot.
Xu Yinian’s fingers gripped the back of the chair so hard her knuckles turned white. The longing in her heart screamed.
She didn’t understand the look in Shen Ruoshuang’s eyes, but her heart rate had already picked up in anticipation of a countdown.
However, Shen Ruoshuang didn’t lean in as expected. Even now, she continued to play this game of push and pull.
“Do you know what that means? Do you know the consequences of saying that? Do you just say things like this to anyone?”
Even though Xu Yinian’s slow brain didn’t fully grasp the implications, her cheeks flushed with a shameful heat from the slow, deliberate intensity in Shen Ruoshuang’s voice.
The pinky finger hanging at her side twitched. She wanted to repeat her previous trick—taking the initiative to satisfy her own cravings.
Shen Ruoshuang seemed to anticipate her intent. She merely let her dark, heavy gaze fall onto that restless hand, and the sheer weight of it stopped all further movement.
“Be good, and I’ll give you a reward.”
It wasn’t as forceful as before, but this tone of unquestionable indulgence was something Xu Yinian was naturally weak against.
“Have you said this to anyone else?”
When Shen Ruoshuang spoke, she articulated every word slowly to ensure the girl understood. The sound felt like a numbing spark nibbling at the edge of Xu Yinian’s ear.
Voice acting… that shouldn’t count as saying it to someone else…
Xu Yinian thought hazily. When she finally spoke, her words seemed to carry the rising, uncontrollable heat from within her.
“N-No… Only you.”
Surely, she would get her reward now.
Instead, she was met with yet another probing question.
“You’re so drunk. Do you even know who you’re talking to?”
Every word Shen Ruoshuang spoke was a challenge to Xu Yinian’s nerves, pushing her until she was on the verge of losing her mind.
Every sentence was a hook, designed to claim every part of her.
Xu Yinian finally began to notice that unreachable, forbidden indifference.
Unable to pull the Unreachable Beauty down from her pedestal, the frustration in her heart boiled over. She let go of the chair.
Even her angry words sounded weak and lacked any real conviction.
“If you don’t want to, then… then forget it. I’ll go find Senior Qin—”
Before she could finish, a pair of hands wrapped around her waist. She was pulled down, falling awkwardly onto the seated Shen Ruoshuang.
Their knees bumped. Xu Yinian’s hand landed somewhere instinctively to steady herself, her forehead knocking against a collarbone. The familiar cold fragrance washed over her senses.
In the midst of the chaos, she tried to push herself up, but her legs were weak from the alcohol. She could only manage to lift her head.
Seeing where she had landed, her face turned a chaotic mix of red and white.
In the next instant, that voice that felt like it was nibbling on her ear sounded again.
Only this time, teeth were actually grazing the tip of her ear as Shen Ruoshuang spoke.
“Tell me… what did Qin Jiashu do to make you so obsessed with her? I promise… I can be even better.”
